Sir, – Denmark, Ireland and the UK joined the European Economic Community in 1973. I voted in the Irish referendum in May 1972 to approve the Irish decision prior to the accession treaty. I subsequently went to live in England for three years and voted in the English referendum in 1975 to remain in the EEC. At no stage was the issue of the potential problems of the Border in Northern Ireland raised in the Irish or UK referendum debates, that I can recall. Northern Ireland, at that stage, was in the first decade of what was then known as “The Troubles”.
Had Ireland and the UK voted differently in those referendums (both countries voted Yes) we would have had the same situation as we are now facing with Brexit. What has changed since is a matter of history: the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985 and the Belfast Agreement of 1998 which resulted in peace and a “soft border” on the island of Ireland.
I cannot believe that any political party in either country would risk us returning to a “hard border” and a return to those days. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL KINSELLA,
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Greystones,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – It would have been better to have an EU Brexit summit on November 11th rather than this week. Then the participants might remember the war-torn militarist past that led to the formation of the EU. Lest they forget. – Yours, etc,
FRANK O’CONNOR,
Dún Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – It is certainly regrettable that Article 50 does not include a provision stipulating a withdrawal date for any nation could not be set until after a binding legal agreement was reached protecting the rights and guarantees of all EU citizens in the departing and remaining nations from being diminished. – Yours, etc,
DAN DONOVAN,
Dungarvan,
Co Waterford.
Sir, – It is surprising that the “God-fearing” people in the DUP persist in blaming the EU or the Republic of Ireland for attempting to impose a barrier between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. Do they not believe it was God who created the Irish Sea? – Yours, etc,
KEVIN O’SULLIVAN,
Letterkenny
Co Donegal.